MK64 Switch Era Competitive History
On July 15, 2022, Gumby, YoyoYoshi, SpacedCowboy, and GG opened a Discord server to make it easier for people to find Mario Kart 64 matches on Nintendo Switch Online. What began as matchmaking grew into organized GP and VS competition, leagues, Elo rankings, tournaments, broadcasts, international play, and CampKart.
July 15, 2022 — Finding People to Race
Gumby, YoyoYoshi (Bobby), SpacedCowboy (Jesse K), and GG founded the MK64 Switch Discord to organize Mario Kart 64 Nintendo Switch Online multiplayer.
At first, there was not much infrastructure to organize. Someone wanted to race. They needed other people online at the same time. The Discord gave them somewhere to ask.
Mario Kart 64 already had established Time Trial, console, emulator, and speedrunning communities. Nintendo Switch Online added an official online release with built-in multiplayer access, giving this group a practical way to organize spontaneous races.
Veterans, returning players, and newer competitors began meeting repeatedly through the server. Regular opponents became recognizable, and recurring races created the basis for later organized competition.
September 5–October 23, 2022 — The First Championship
Less than two months after the Discord opened, players began the community's first 2P Grand Prix double-elimination tournament.
Tom defeated Gumby in the championship round and became the first major tournament winner of the Switch era.
November 12, 2022–March 19, 2023 — Matches Become a League
Grand Prix League Season 1 began with two divisions, with SpacedCowboy finishing as champion.
Now competitors were not meeting only for one bracket or whatever races happened to occur on Discord. They had scheduled opponents, standings, promotion races, and months of results accumulating around them.
March 3–May 7, 2023 — Ultimate Karter
The first Ultimate Karter tournament gave the strongest Grand Prix competitors a championship built around that top level of play.
The event also used the Pro Karter tier as a competitive benchmark for top GP players, giving the community a named level above ordinary individual match results.
April 22, 2023 — Every Match Starts Following You
Elo ratings arrived for 2P Grand Prix competition.
Tournament results captured specific events; Elo added a persistent rating that changed with ordinary 2P GP matches as well.
The original Elo system remained active through February 10, 2025 and gave the Switch scene its first persistent rating ladder.
June 22–September 16, 2023 — A Championship for the Climbers
Ultimate Prospect gave developing competitors a championship of their own. Instead of asking newer and middle-tier players simply to enter an elite bracket and disappear, the tournament gave them opponents at a more meaningful stage of the competitive climb.
June 24–November 19, 2023 — VS Gets Its Own Stars
Grand Prix had dominated much of the early organized competition, but four-player VS demanded a different kind of racer.
The first major Nintendo Switch Online 4P VS Tournament ran through much of 2023. Traffic, items, position, recovery, and the behavior of three opponents could turn a race in ways a 2P GP match did not.
Patalus won the tournament.
July 29, 2023 — Patalus Joins the Staff
By summer 2023, leagues, events, rules, and new-member activity required more administration than the original matchmaking server had needed.
Patalus joined the administrator and moderator team, adding community leadership to the competitive role he was already developing on the track.
September 11, 2023 — More Than Winning
Mario Kart 64 Achievements added recognized goals outside tournament titles, including consistency, unusual accomplishments, participation, and experimentation.
December 8, 2023–February 23, 2024 — A Bigger League
Grand Prix League Season 2 returned with multiple divisions and the largest league structure the community had yet attempted. Tom finished as champion.
Multiple divisions let competitors face different sets of opponents and created promotion races without placing the entire league into one pool.
April 6, 2024 — Shortcuts Take the Stage
In 2024, organizers added a tournament built specifically around shortcut use.
The Saturday Night Main Event Shortcut Tournament rewarded a skill set that ordinary GP competition could leave at the edges. Players who had practiced shortcuts now had a bracket where those techniques were the point.
May 18–July 19, 2024 — Mirror Mode and Middleweights
The Middleweight Mirror Mode GP Tournament combined middleweight characters with mirrored tracks.
The format changed both character selection and track orientation from standard GP play, creating a distinct ruleset within the existing competition.
September 6–9, 2024 — CampKart 1
After more than two years of mostly online competition, players traveled to Missouri for CampKart 1, the first major in-person gathering of the MK64 Switch era.
SpacedCowboy won both Grand Prix and 4P VS.
For full results, see Tournaments.
September 29–December 8, 2024 — Fx64 Wins Ultimate Karter 2
Ultimate Karter returned for a second tournament in late 2024.
Fx64 defeated SonicBoom to win Ultimate Karter 2, adding another champion to a GP scene that no longer revolved around only a handful of early names.
See the full tournament branch on Tournaments.
February 2–October 5, 2025 — What Happens Without Items?
Keep Your Shells to Yourself removed one of Mario Kart's defining mechanics from Grand Prix competition.
No shells. No lightning. No item comeback.
Removing items shifted the format toward racing lines, pace, consistency, mistakes, and technical execution over item use and recovery.
August 30–September 1, 2025 — CampKart Comes Back
CampKart 2 returned to Missouri in 2025 as a second annual gathering.
This time, Gumby won both Grand Prix and 4P VS, matching SpacedCowboy's double championship from the year before.
One of the four people who had opened the matchmaking Discord in July 2022 was now standing atop both live formats three years later.
For full results, see Tournaments.
October 1, 2025–April 12, 2026 — Euro Kart Clash
Euro Kart Clash created a sustained international competition branch within MK64 Switch, giving European players another regular setting in which to establish rivalries and results.
Konings-89 finished as champion, closing the event at the top of the standings.
May–July 2026 — GP League Season 3
Grand Prix League Season 3 continued the community's recurring league structure into 2026.
SpacedCowboy finished as champion.
September 3–7, 2026 — CampKart 3
CampKart returned to Missouri for a third major in-person gathering, extending the live branch of the Switch era into 2026.
Coolex won Grand Prix, while SpacedCowboy won 4P VS.
By its third year, CampKart had become a recurring institution connecting several years of online competition with an annual live event.
For full results, see Tournaments.
Still Racing
The four founders did not sit down in July 2022 and design the eventual competitive structure. They wanted people to be able to find Mario Kart 64 games; the leagues, rankings, tournaments, CampKart events, broadcasts, international competition, and player histories accumulated from there.
Mario Kart 64 was released in 1996, but the Switch competition documented here is a distinct 2022–present community history built around Nintendo Switch Online, Discord, recurring competition, and live community events.